From classroom mom to District 63 board member

Krystal Zec | Photo courtesy of District 63

Updated: August 27, 2012 8:16AM

MORTON GROVE — For the past two years Krystal Zec has been diligent about staying involved in her young children’s schooling.

She attended the monthly meetings of the East Maine School District 63 Board of Education on a regular basis.

She coordinated the creation of Nelson School’s yearbook with the Parent Teacher Organization.

And she spent time volunteering in her son’s classroom.

Zec aims for her children to value education like she does.

“I want to make an impact and personally be out there,” she said. “I want my kids to know how important is.”

Serving on the Board of Education was the next goal of the working mother of three.

The opportunity presented itself this summer, when Zec was sworn into office Aug. 1 to fill a board vacancy.

“It will be different on the other side of the table,” she acknowledged. “My ultimate goal is to keep it a good district and continue to make it a district that kids and parents want to go to.”

Zec said her family moved to Morton Grove seven years ago partly because of the fond memories her husband, Rusmir, a District 63 alumnus, has of Nelson and Gemini schools.

The couple will have two children at Nelson this year when their daughter enters kindergarten and their son becomes a second-grader.

Parental involvement is a priority for Zec, whose experience growing up in Springfield was different.

Zec recounted how she and her brother often did homework independently because their mother had to work.

She developed on her own an appreciation for the merits of education, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting as well as CPA certification.

Zec now works for a major banking institution.

She’s able to juggle family, work and, now, board service, thanks to her husband, she said.

“It’s teamwork,” she said. “And prioritizing.

“Of course family comes first.”

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